


Three Detectives are Better than One

by Stariceling



Category: Tantei Gakuen Q | Detective Academy Q
Genre: Community: 30_dogpile, F/M, M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, Threesome - F/M/M, so much pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-07-17
Updated: 2012-07-17
Packaged: 2017-12-05 19:09:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/726900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stariceling/pseuds/Stariceling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryu loves his classmates enough to want to see them happy together, but he's not realizing just how deeply Kyu or Megu feel for him. Ryu/Kyu/Megu</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Infatuation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Each chapter will be based on one of the prompts from the 30_dogpile challenge. At least at the beginning, I'm working on an actual plot for this fic.
> 
> Prompt for the first chapter: Infatuation

Kyu was making an effort to study the floor plans carefully. Even if they would have Megu there with them, and she would have a perfect copy in mind, he didn’t want to slip up and slow down the investigation by forgetting. He was so focused it took a moment to look up at the steady murmur of Ryu’s voice and find what his classmates were up to.

They had their heads together in concentration as Ryu traced one finger over the floor plan, outlining possible routes an intruder could take to slip inside unseen. Except Kyu wasn’t watching where Ryu pointed. He was watching Megu biting shyly at her lower lip as her eyes darted from the plans to Ryu’s face. He was watching the shape of Ryu’s lips as he murmured, “. . . blind spot in the security system. And here. . .”

“But if we had Kazuma set up another camera here,” Megu moved to indicate a garden gazebo that conveniently overlooked their undefended stretch of wall. She stopped without touching the paper, her fingers only a hair’s breadth away from brushing Ryu’s hand.

He didn’t move his hand, didn’t interrupt, but simply raised his eyes to look at her. His lips parted soundlessly, and it seemed to take a long time for him to speak. Long enough for an embarrassed pink to tint Megu’s cheeks, at least.

“That would work,” he confirmed, but his voice came out unreasonably soft for discussing plans.

“Okay!” Kyu lunged across the desk to clasp his hand over both of theirs, managing to trap their not-quite-touching fingers under his palm.

“Kyu, what are you doing?” The sudden surprise made Megu’s blush even more obvious.

“Uh. . . Sorry.” Kyu took his hand back reluctantly, trying to laugh off his sudden bout of enthusiasm.

He knew he was being ridiculous. It shouldn’t be tugging at his heart to watch them putting their heads together in quiet concentration. Here was his best friend and his other best friend, and he should be happy that they were close to each other too.

Running his fingers through his hair in frustration, Kyu didn’t stop watching every move as Megu slowly took her hand away, or as Ryu marked down the suggestion she had made on the floor plan with unnecessary care. He couldn’t help pausing to notice when Megu was thoughtful and cute, or when Ryu complimented her by being cool and elegant. He couldn’t stop some whiny, gnawing part of himself from feeling left out when the two of them drifted close to each other like that.

He was being stupid and he knew it. Kyu stared at the floor plan with all his might, pretending that burning a perfect copy of it into his mind would somehow block out the image of Megu’s shy smile, or Ryu’s subtle one, as he calculated the range her proposed camera would cover.

Jealousy wouldn’t bring them anything productive, but Kyu couldn’t make the feeling go away. As long as either of them were in his sights or on his mind, he found himself caught in a hopeless net of longing and infatuation.


	2. Interpreting Dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Ballroom Dancing

The lesson was probably inevitable. Blending in with one’s surroundings was a crucial skill for a detective, and that didn’t just fall into the area of more conventional camouflage. They would need the ability to blend in among different types of crowds, and attend different social events without attracting undue attention.

They would be getting a little practice on this lesson in blending in soon enough. Ryu was more than ready for their real-world test. It was his classmates who were making him apprehensive.

Well, one of his classmates. Kinta had his own brilliance when it came to the physical, so he had figured out what he was doing almost immediately. Megu had a certain poise when she concentrated, and besides that she was able to memorize the steps she needed to go through almost instantly. Even if she tripped up a little she would come off as cute, not out of place. Kazuma wouldn’t join in on the lesson, but he was obviously too young to blend in on this assignment anyway.

Kyu was the one Ryu worried about. He probably could have guessed that Kyu couldn’t dance, but he hadn’t expected him to be quite so persistently bad at it. He could hardly take a step without colliding with his partner’s toes. Even though he apologized sincerely each time, that wasn’t going to help his cover. Just watching him Ryu could tell Kyu was getting more and more flustered, and it was only making him worse.

It didn’t help when he was paired with Megu. Both of them were obviously distracted, blushing, looking carefully at their feet instead of each other. Even if Ryu hadn’t already guessed the reason it would have been obvious.

When Kyu managed to trip Megu, she squeaked in surprise and fell into him. Kyu didn’t so much catch her as hold her, his hands curling over her shoulders. The expression on his face might have been funny under other circumstances, with his mouth open in surprise and his cheeks suddenly growing so red that they nearly glowed.

As it was, Ryu thought he felt his heart crack, just a tiny bit. . . .

Megu had her hands curled against Kyu’s chest, her head down in embarrassment. For a moment she was just as frozen as he was.

“Can we stop now?” Megu finally asked.

“Sure,” Kyu mumbled. He let her go, but didn’t let his arms drop to his sides. They stayed up, crooked at the elbow, as if he didn’t know what to do with them.

“Sorry I keep kicking you,” Kyu managed, just a second late. “I guess I can’t practice with you until I figure it out, huh?”

He laughed, and she smiled, and Ryu looked away.

The reason Kyu’s crush stood out so plainly, maybe the only reason, was because Ryu was looking for it. His eyes and his thoughts were drawn to Kyu, and there was no denying that he had wanted very much to know Kyu’s feelings.

Ryu had thought that he was still resisting the feeling that he was falling in love with Kyu when he made his offer.

“I’ll help you practice later.”

He meant the offer only because Kyu really needed help, and practice, and not because he wanted to see how Kyu would react. Ryu couldn’t pretend to himself that he hadn’t thought what it might be like to hold Kyu against his chest the way Kyu had held Megu, but he could at least keep himself from acting on that curiosity.

“Really? Thanks, Ryu!” Kyu had brightened up at the simple suggestion, his fickle energy catching Ryu off guard once again.

Ryu had meant the offer as just a friend or classmate, mostly, but the smile Kyu turned on him came dangerously close to tempting him from that altruistic position.

* * *

When Ryu started the music he felt his nerves jump and tense in a way he wasn’t accustomed to. He wasted a moment fiddling with the volume, trying to collect himself, before turning to face Kyu.

Kyu had his arms crossed behind his head, and he was standing a little farther back than Ryu would have expected of someone who actually wanted a lesson. He kept rocking back and forth from toes to heels, his body language betraying an unexpected apprehension.

“We could do this later,” Kyu suggested.

He’d wanted take Ryu home to practice, even when Ryu reminded him that the school already had the music and the space and the general set-up that they needed. Ryu wasn’t at all sure about trying to concentrate on dancing in Kyu’s bedroom, or wherever he chose for them. Besides, he was sure Kyu was just stalling.

Without answering Kyu, Ryu stepped up to him and reached out with both hands, keeping his expression carefully neutral as he waited for Kyu to join him.

Kyu laid both of his hands over Ryu’s, palm-to-palm, clasping them uncertainly.

“Like this,” Ryu reminded him.

He freed his left hand from Kyu’s and laid it with exaggerated care against Kyu’s upper arm. Kyu mimicked him, his hand resting on the safe territory of Ryu’s arm, just below his shoulder. He looked over at his other hand, still clasped around Ryu’s.

For a moment that seemed to take far longer than the few beats of music that measured it, they were both completely still. Ryu was aware the Kyu’s hands were warm, that Kyu’s breath smelled faintly of mint when he let out a sound somewhere between a sigh and a laugh, and that Kyu was looking at him as if he had forgotten every last thing he’d learned that morning.

“You’re leading,” Ryu told him, because he wasn’t moving.

“But you’re taller than me.”

“I’m only here to be your partner. Try doing it normally to start.”

“Okay.”

Kyu lunged forward, so that Ryu barely managed to get his foot out of the way in time.

“On the beat,” he admonished, pushing Kyu back into his original position. “ _One_ two three, _four_ five six,” he counted off. He couldn’t even scold Kyu properly.

Kyu picked up the proper tempo fairly quickly. He stepped in time, staring at his feet with great concentration. Ryu periodically gave him verbal reminders of which foot and which direction he was supposed to be moving.

He was doing far better than he had on the first try, making Ryu suspect that his inept performance had been entirely due to standing too close to a pretty girl. Or, perhaps, just because of who that pretty girl happened to be.

Of course he couldn’t completely blame Kyu if it was her. Megu was. . . she was brilliant and strong in a way that Ryu wasn’t sure either of them could even fully appreciate. She was pretty, but Ryu had known a lot of people who were attractive and he hadn’t particularly liked most of them. If she were merely pretty he might have resented so much of Kyu’s attention going to her. But no, Megu was clever and she was kind and he understood exactly where Kyu was coming from. That was almost worse.

Maybe he was still a little jealous. Maybe he was just a little irritated that Kyu couldn’t be as flustered by touching him. . . especially when his own heart wouldn’t stop pounding as if it wanted to escape his chest.

“Look at me.”

Kyu looked up, startled, so that Ryu suddenly wondered how much his voice might have given away.

“You have to look at your partner, Kyu.”

“I don’t want to step on you.”

“Hm,” was Ryu’s only comment as he narrowly avoided Kyu’s feet.

“I’m really trying not to!” Kyu protested.

“You have to be more confident.” Ryu ignored the skeptical look Kyu was giving him and tried to explain, “It’s important to understand your partner. You have to see what they’re doing and respond. Read their body language. You should be able to tell what they want from their movements and the press of their hands.”

Ryu had never really tried to put something like that into words before. It was just a tiny bit like martial arts. It was trying to predict the next movement and react properly. Kyu was staring at him, somewhere between understanding and unbelieving.

“ _Show_ me how you’re going to move, and I’ll respond.”

After saying that, Ryu wasn’t entirely sure he could read Kyu’s movements as well as he had said, but with each step he found he could. Kyu was frowning at him in adorable concentration. The movements of his shoulders and body and the press of his hand in Ryu’s broadcast everything.

Ryu realized that Kyu’s hand had crept from his arm to his back, resting just below his shoulder. He knew they had moved closer to one another. It was just an immeasurably small distance closer. . . he told himself that it was because Kyu’s lesson needed to get to the next step of difficulty, not because he had wanted to let Kyu draw him in.

“You’re right,” Kyu told him after a few moments of looking directly into Ryu’s face. “I can sort of read your body language.”

“It’s an important skill to have as a detective,” Ryu reminded him. Everything always came back to that.

He had hoped Kyu would pick up the trick of focusing on his movements, but not quite this quickly. He would have to be more careful in the future. Kyu was sometimes a little dense to things that were right in front of him, but he was also prone to trying to practice his skills on those closest to him. If he could deduce Ryu’s intentions through slight hints of movement, Ryu would need to be more careful what he allowed to show.

Their song wound down to the end, and Ryu made as if to pull away. He was stopped by Kyu’s hand moving from his shoulder to the small of his back. That was technically where his hand was supposed to be in the closed position their practice called for, but Ryu was only aware of being drawn even closer by having Kyu’s arm around him properly.

“Let’s practice through the next song too.”

Ryu couldn’t seem to find his voice. He could only wait until the music started again, until Kyu picked up the rhythm of it and led him into the dance again.

They moved in the same measured pattern as before. Around and around as they made their way across the floor together. It might have felt more strange to Ryu that he had to do everything backwards, but he was so focused on Kyu. He took each step in response to the press and sway of Kyu’s body, feeling all at once both led and pursued.

They were halfway through before Ryu found his voice again.

“You’re picking it up very quickly. I’m impressed,” he complimented Kyu.

Maybe he was just a little disappointed. Ryu had expected that they would be at it all afternoon, at the very least. Instead Kyu actually seemed to be getting the hang of dancing. Maybe because it had gone from being a physical test to a practice in non-verbal communication, which made it interesting enough for him to honestly apply himself.

Ryu might have liked for Kyu’s lesson to go on a little longer than this.

“It’s really easy with you.”

Ryu curled his fingers around Kyu’s arm, tightening his grip without meaning to. He felt Kyu’s hand grip his a little tighter in response. It was a signal, an unspoken warning that Kyu would close the distance between them a little more.

Once again Ryu was aware of the faint smell of mint. He took a startled breath, and was aware of Kyu’s breath invading his mouth and slipping into his lungs. He realized almost too late that even a deep breath would be enough to bring him into full contact with Kyu, they were so close now.

They were too close, and he could feel Kyu’s scrutiny. Ryu could only think to divert his attention.

“Yet you get so nervous being this close to Megu,” Ryu pointed out.

His comment had the desired effect. . . in a way. Kyu blushed and stumbled, and Ryu felt a sudden spark of jealousy, one that he quickly smothered.

“That’s different. It’s not really-”

“You like her.”

Kyu stumbled over his feet, but maybe that was because Ryu was being careless. He caught Kyu against him, his left arm winding around Kyu’s shoulders even while his right kept holding Kyu’s in the correct position.

“Of course I like her,” Kyu protested. “We’re friends! I mean, we’re classmates and all, and. . . .”

Blood was throbbing in Ryu’s ears, making it difficult to hear Kyu’s excuses. He felt Kyu’s hand curl into a fist against his back, and it kept pressing into him. They were still held together, too close to move properly now.

“Stop,” Ryu heard himself murmur.

He was talking to himself more than to Kyu. At that moment he was all too aware of the way his fingers clutched at the back of Kyu’s shirt. He didn’t want to let go.

“I’m trying to help you,” he told Kyu, and at the same time he was reminding himself.

Kyu’s hand at his back relaxed, and Ryu made himself let go and step away from Kyu. He crossed his arms to shut out the thought of touching Kyu again and looked sideways to avoid meeting Kyu’s eyes. In that moment he wanted to be stone. He wanted to tell Kyu to stop trying to read him. There was nothing to find that Kyu would ever want to know.

“Ryu?”

“You want to be able to dance with her, right?”

Kyu rubbed at the back of his neck. Just the sight of him, nervous and flustered and so caught up in that thought that he had obviously forgotten about reading Ryu’s body language, was enough to decide Ryu.

“Well, maybe a little,” Kyu admitted.

That was enough. Like reading his partner’s moves in a dance, Ryu didn’t need to ask in words to know. He had already known better than to give his own feelings free range, and now he was sure he knew the full nature of Kyu’s feelings.

Ryu stepped away, putting his back to Kyu as he moved to stop the music that had been playing on, unheeded.

“Um, Ryu? I’ve been meaning to ask: Do you-”

“No.”

Ryu had been waiting for the question for some time now. He had seen it once or twice in Kyu’s face, whenever he was close to Megu. ‘Do you like her too?’ Ryu expected Kyu would want to know, but he didn’t want to hear the question.

It wasn’t that simple, because he did like Megu. He cared for her. He would have protected her as fiercely as he would Kyu. He was fairly sure she was the only person in the world to whom he could have given up Kyu and not hated them for it. But. . . trying to explain all of that would be useless. He didn’t think even Kyu could understand something like that.

“You don’t even know what I was asking!” Kyu protested. “What if I wanted to say, ‘Do you even think I have a chance?’”

“Yes, then,” Ryu answered, and now he had to keep his face turned away from Kyu’s to hide the hint of amusement he could feel playing with his expression.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

There was a pause, only a heartbeat too long, before Kyu said, “You’re a good friend, Ryu.”

A good friend. That was all there was, but it was more precious than anything Ryu could remember having in his life before meeting Kyu. A good friend was exactly what Ryu intended to stay.


	3. Preparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Necktie

When she arrived, Megu found Ryu was waiting for her in the minor swirl of confusion going on outside the front gates. That was something of a comfort. Megu couldn’t help feeling like she still didn’t know what to expect.

The assignment was simple enough. Their host had been getting a frustrating assortment of threatening letters demanding that the entire affair be canceled, though none of those threats registered above, ‘or else.’ They were only meant to blend in at the party, make sure nothing went wrong, and try to seek out the letter-writer, if at all possible.

At least since the party was meant for a sixteen-year-old girl, the four of them wouldn’t look too out of place. It was the odd formal atmosphere of the whole thing that made Megu nervous. Both parents and daughter seemed strangely old-fashioned about the entire thing. Megu hadn’t heard of anyone outside an old, romanticized drama having an official coming-out party, though apparently that was considered normal enough for this family.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” Megu said in greeting.

“You’re not late. Kinta just went inside.”

Ryu had been watching her the whole time she approached, as she looked between him and the other guests who kept walking up the front drive. They would probably look different once inside, away from the odd tint of twilight, but not so much so that she wouldn’t recognize them.

At least Ryu looked like he belonged. Megu was sure his normal air of quiet elegance would fit in perfectly with even the most refined crowd.

Megu brushed nervously at her skirt. It was simple enough, patterned in soft grey and lacy white. She had only been thinking that it wouldn’t stand out too much in a crowd. A silvery crystal necklace, borrowed from her sister on the promise of sharing any good gossip that came up, rested with an unfamiliar tickle just below the hollow of her throat. The borrowed jewelry made her feel uncomfortably like a little girl playing at dress up.

“You’ll blend right in,” Ryu told her, seeming to guess her worries.

Megu wanted to return the compliment. She wanted to tell Ryu how handsome he looked, but shy nervousness was flapping around inside her chest and telling her not to say it.

“Is Kyu here yet?”

“I’m still waiting for him.”

“Oh.”

Megu’s mouth felt dry with the tense silence. Maybe it was just her feeling tense, not knowing what to say to Ryu.

Before the silence between them could get uncomfortable, it was broken by Kyu’s voice, calling over the more genteel murmur of the other guests.

“Megu! Ryu!”

Megu turned at her name and the sound of running feet, just in time to see Kyu waving wildly as he charged up. The moment he caught up to them he bent nearly double, hands on his knees, to catch his breath. A navy blue tie was draped around his neck, untied, and it almost slipped off completely when he took a minute to gasp for breath.

“Are you okay?”

“You can’t call so much attention to yourself,” Ryu said at the same time.

“I know, I know,” Kyu gasped, straightening back up. “But I just couldn’t get-” Kyu stopped to pull his tie so that it was centered again. He just kept jerking back and forth at it, completely unable to tie a proper knot. “And then I’m late and I still can’t get it tied!”

“I’ll do it.”

Ryu took the ends of Kyu’s tie in his hands. Kyu let him, tilting his chin up and taking his hands out of the way as Ryu straightened both his tie and collar.

It looked natural enough as Ryu deftly tied Kyu’s tie, but when he took his hands away the knot had come out exactly backwards.

Megu managed not to giggle. She couldn’t help finding it cute to finally see a small flaw in Ryu. He must only be used to tying his own tie, so that his fingers only remembered how to do it one way.

“Let me,” she told them, gently taking the tie from Ryu’s hands and undoing the backwards knot.

Just having seen it done once or twice, Megu was able to mimic the correct loop and tuck to fix Kyu’s tie properly. She almost stopped, frozen, before she could finish straightening it. Just seeing her fingers go through a sequence she had watched before was enough to summon a memory so clear that it superimposed over the sight of her own hands.

She remembered her mother and father repeating this same ritual over the breakfast table. Her mother’s gentle voice saying, ‘Let me do it, dear.’ The deft way her mother’s fingers repeated the same exact motions before flipping her father’s collar back down and smoothing it. The way her father would gently catch and squeeze her mother’s fingers without a word.

It had been years since she’d seen that ritual, now that she was living with her older sister. Megu didn’t think she would have understood the unspoken affection in those few movements if she didn’t have the perfect image of them in her mind, ready to be replayed at any time.

Megu felt her face grow warm as she flipped Kyu’s collar down. She smoothed her fingers over it, all the way around the back of his neck, just to be sure. It was probably a safe guess that Kyu wouldn’t associate the innocent gesture with the sort of deep, familiar affection between wife and husband. She was only straightening his tie was all.

“Thank you!”

Kyu beamed at her, and the glow of that enthusiastic smile was quite enough.

“You’re welcome,” Megu answered, feeling herself smile in return.

Kyu leaned to one side for a second, as if checking on something over her shoulder. Before Megu could turn and find out what he was looking at he had snapped back and thrust his bent arm out at her.

“I’ll escort you in, okay?”

Megu glanced uncertainly over her shoulder at Ryu, who was carefully looking away from both of them. If Kyu was being prompted, he wasn’t being very subtle about it. Still, Megu didn’t see any harm in it. If Kyu walked her in, they suddenly had a reasonable excuse to confer together during the party. Maybe that was all there was to it.

Laying her hand delicately on Kyu’s arm, Megu allowed herself to be guided to the front walk. Kyu kept looking down at her hand then up at her face, strangely cute in his indecisiveness.

“We’ll fit right in,” Megu reassured him, repeating the words Ryu had just given her as if they were a good luck charm.

Kyu fidgeted about for a minute before replying with an unusually soft, “Megu?” A pause and then, “You look. . . really nice.”

“No, not really,” Megu tried to argue, modestly.

“Yes you do.”

It was strange the way that awkward compliment made her chest and cheeks warm. Embarrassment was nothing next to the spark of confidence Kyu had given her. The feeling of being somehow caught out as a child dressing up melted into nothing. All that was left in its place was the feeling that they could do this.

It wasn’t just Ryu, following a step behind like a silent shadow, who would fit in here. All of them would do their own part. That feeling carried Megu every step up to the front door, practically floating where Kyu’s arm guided her.


	4. Cookies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the first chapter finished, but it takes place well after chapter 3. It's not dangerous to read out of order, though. Kyu/Megu with pining Ryu.
> 
> Prompt: Dessert

“At least the cookies turned out good, right?” Kyu smiled easily, though Ryu didn’t miss the suppressed wince at his next touch.

“Did that hurt?” Ryu tightened his grip on Kyu’s wrist to keep him from yanking his hand away, but didn’t try to touch the burns on his palm again just yet. He had been using a cotton swab to daub burn ointment on Kyu’s palms and fingers, and had managed to finish one hand without incident. Ryu shifted slightly where he knelt in front of Kyu’s chair. The last thing he wanted was to hurt his friend while trying to help him.

“Kyu, you’re so careless. I can’t believe you sometimes,” Megu interjected before Kyu could say a thing. She had been terribly upset when Kyu hurt himself, but she had still had the presence of mind to turn on the cold water and help Ryu force Kyu’s hands under the faucet.

Ryu simply sighed and nodded in agreement. Sometimes Kyu just didn’t think before he acted. Case in point would be him diving and catching a scalding hot cookie sheet when Megu slipped and dropped it. Catching it with his bare hands, no less. At least he had come away with nothing worse than mild burns on his fingers and palms.

“That’s not fair, you two!”

Holding in giggles at Kyu’s outburst, Megu touched her nose to his cheek affectionately. Ryu quickly returned his attention to Kyu’s hands. It seemed like a simple gesture, but even Ryu could sense the affection hidden in it. It was as close as they ever came to kissing with a stranger watching. . . which was how Ryu felt at a time like this. He knew he should have let them have time alone together, but when both of them ganged up on him and protested that they never got to see him outside of class they had somehow made it impossible for him to pass up the invitation.

“Here.” Still smiling, Megu broke the cookie she had brought in with her neatly in half and held one half out so that Kyu could take it in his mouth. He grinned up at her around the treat, his feelings obviously unscathed by the ‘unfair’ comments.

Just watching the two of them together, Ryu could feel a knot forming in his chest. These were his two dearest, most precious, friends in the world. Yet every time he watched them be sweet to each other, every time he watched them argue and knew it was something deeper and more intimate than a mere fight between friends could ever be, all he could think was that he wanted that. He wanted _something_ that could be anything like what the two of them had. And, on nights when he was too tired and lonely not to be honest with himself, Ryu knew he didn’t simply want what his friends had, but he wanted to have the two of them.

Megu caught his eye for a second and Ryu had to look back at Kyu’s hand. She was nibbling carelessly on the other half of the cookie, and he couldn’t help noticing how cute she looked like that. They were both cute in their own moments, and it was all Ryu could do to try to anticipate those moments and look away. Already Ryu knew his heart would skip if she smiled at him again, so he tried not to invite that smile. Kyu was the one who deserved her attention now.

“I’ll go get some milk.” She smiled carelessly at both of them, Ryu felt more than saw it, and went back into the kitchen, making it a little easier for Ryu to regain his calm.

At least he was done with Kyu’s hands. There wasn’t a sore, red spot that hadn’t being smeared with ointment now. With a silent breath of relief, Ryu released Kyu’s hand and tossed his swab into a nearby trash can. There was another scrap of calm that returned when he wasn’t holding Kyu’s wrist.

“Oo uo ann um?” Kyu asked around what was left of his cookie. He had somehow managed to take a bite from the end and draw it further into his mouth without dropping it. Ryu had never realized Kyu had a such dexterous mouth. That realization made him swallow hard, because of a myriad of thoughts that had nothing to do with the bite of dessert that he was being offered.

“No, thank you. I should really go now.” Standing, Ryu turned towards the kitchen, thinking he should make the effort to not be rude and say goodbye to Megu first.

“Uh uo idin eeun ab any.”

“I don’t really like sweets. I’m fine not having any.”

Ryu belatedly realized that it was probably strange he could understand Kyu, even like this. Then again, he often knew what Kyu meant before he got the words out. It just felt natural to know, somehow.

“Yuu!” Kyu tilted the cookie in his teeth, pointing it up at Ryu. “Uss ab um!”

The knot in Ryu’s chest tightened. He reached down for the cookie, because maybe if he just gave Kyu his way and ate some he would quit. “Don’t talk with your mouth full, Kyu.”

To he surprise Kyu evaded his hand, not letting him take the cookie. Hadn’t Kyu just offered him some?

“Uss ake a iyte.”

“With it still in your mouth?” Ryu could only stare as Kyu nodded. The other boy did a lot of things he didn’t understand, but this effortlessly hit the top of the list.

And yet Ryu gave in. He leaned forward and bit the end of the cookie Kyu was offering. Smiling at him, Kyu nipped off the bit that was between his teeth and drew it even further into his mouth.

When Ryu tried to take a second bite he had to lean even closer, until his nose accidentally brushed Kyu’s. Before he could panic and pull back Kyu had bit the remains of their shared dessert in half and used his tongue to push Ryu’s share into his mouth. His tongue brushed Ryu’s lower lip on the way, warm and wet and sudden enough to make Ryu choke.

“Are you all right?” Apparently Ryu’s sudden coughing fit had summoned Megu from the kitchen in concern. At least he hoped that was what it was, not that she had been in the doorway watching what had happened a moment before.

Ryu had the strangest urge to apologize to Megu for kissing her boyfriend, but all he could do was splutter and try not to cough crumbs all over both of them. It hadn’t really been a kiss, anyway. It wasn’t! It couldn’t be.

“Ah, Ryu I’m really sorry!”

“What did you do?” Megu dropped the tray of milk and cookies she had brought on the table with a clatter and hurried to pat Ryu on the back. “Are you okay?” She asked, her voice suddenly gentle with worry.

“I think I startled him. Um. . . here.”

“Don’t grab that, Kyu-kun! Your hands!”

“I was just trying to get it for him!”

Ryu ignored their argument. He managed to get in a few deep breaths and the next thing he knew Megu was holding a tall glass of milk for him, the cool rim pressed just below his lip. Automatically, Ryu put his hands around it. A few sips of the cool liquid helped settle the crumbs that he had been struggling not to inhale. Megu continued to support the glass with one hand while she rubbed soothing circles into his back with the other.

By the time he looked up both of them were watching him, looking more concerned than Ryu thought he had earned. Megu still had her hand pressed between his shoulder blades. She kept it there while he sat down, and for a moment the fact of her warm arm around his shoulders felt like an embrace, even though he knew logically that she was only trying to ensure he didn’t fall over.

“Are you all right now?”

“Fine.” Ryu thought for a minute he should seize the chance to say goodbye and leave, but somehow the two of them looking at him so seriously killed his common sense. For one blessed moment he honestly did feel wanted, and he didn’t know what to do with the feeling. He couldn’t exactly turn up his nose at something like this. “I’m fine. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“That’s what friends are for,” Kyu reminded him, and Ryu couldn’t suppress his own smile.

The feeling of being wanted faded in a few short moments as he watched, trying not to look like he was watching, while Megu wiped crumbs from Kyu’s cheek and scolded him, and fed him bites of cookie because he couldn’t pick them up himself at the moment.

Even though Ryu started to once again feel like a third wheel, the knot in his chest didn’t re-form. It was kept at bay by the tingling sensation all down his back and across his lower lip where each of them had touched him. He tried to tell himself it wasn’t the close and personal _something_ that he had been looking for, but that taste of affection was enough to satisfy his hungry heart for now.


End file.
